LCV Names Dennis Rehberg to Dirty Dozen

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WASHINGTON – Today, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) named Montana Senate candidate Rep. Dennis Rehberg to its 2012 “Dirty Dozen” list. LCV's trademark “Dirty Dozen” program targets candidates for Congress — regardless of party affiliation — who consistently vote against clean energy and conservation and are running in races in which LCV has a serious chance to affect the outcome.

“Dennis Rehberg has repeatedly sided with corporate polluters over Montana’s hunters and fishermen, working to undermine critical clean air and water protections and put large swaths of Montana’s world-class wild lands and open space at risk,” said Navin Nayak, Senior Vice President of Campaigns.

LCV plans to make the Montana Senate race a top priority this cycle. LCV has already reported $170,000 in expenditures on a door-to-door campaign in Billings, Missoula, Helena and Bozeman to get pro-conservation voters to vote by mail for Sen. John Tester. Additionally, LCV Action Fund has already raised more than $96,000 for Tester via its GiveGreenwebsite.

“Dennis Rehberg's outright disdain for Montana's public lands mean he's out of step with voters,” said Theresa Keaveny, Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters. “He's co-sponsoring a bill to cede control of public lands 100 miles south of the border, including Glacier National Park, to the Department of Homeland Security. That's the kind of information our campaign is sharing with concerned voters.”

Rehberg co-sponsored legislation which would allow 60 million acres of public lands to lose protection from oil and gas drilling, unchecked development and other threats, including 6 million acres of public land in Montana that is used for hunting, fishing and hiking. [HR1581; The Wilderness Society, 7/29/11;Missoula Independent, 9/22/11; Flathead Beacon, 9/28/11]

Rehberg co-sponsored a bill that would grant the Department of Homeland Security unprecedented power to ignore 36 environmental laws in a 100 mile zone of federal land, including the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. The impacted public lands would include Montana’s own Glacier National Park. [HR1505; McClatchy, 10/25/11; UPI, 9/27/11]

Since 1996, 60 percent of the “Dirty Dozen” have been defeated. LCV has previously named Virginia Senate candidate George Allen, New Mexico Senate candidate Heather Wilson and Rep. Tim Holden to its 2012 “Dirty Dozen.” Rep. Holden was defeated last month in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district.